Snoopers! A Mustang in the desert

[Torbjorn]

 

Found this box while rummaging through the big box-o-boxes on the attic. It was awhile ago I built a Mustang, so it was about time. 

 

The kit has options for two USAAF and one RAF machine in desert livery. Since I was hoping to build a desert Kittyhawk I opted for an American plane here.

 

Obligatory sprue shots:

 

 

 

Quite some cleaning will be needed and detail is often a bit rough. The wheels are horrible (mouldibg gone bad or bad moulds?) but fortunately the box also contains a set of nice resin, including wheels:

 

Unfortunately the resin cockpit is a tad doffocult to assemble, no obvious location marks and the instructions only have an exploded view. I assembled the plastic parts to get an idea of what goes where.

 

 

The photo doesn’t gove enough credit to the details: especially the radios/ gear behind the seat are wonderful. I might have to find an open vac-form canopy to display this. I only have B/D canopies though.

 

That is how far I’ve gotten. Also considering acquiring some aftermarket guns and exhausts (they are crude), but we’ll see how happy I am with the model at that point - that is, whether it deserves them or not. 

[SoftScience]

Oh sweet! Im a sucker for the alison engined mustangs! Thanks for participating with this.

[Ozzy]

Nice find Torbjorn and welcome to the build.

[TEMPESTMK5]

Hi Torbjorn

Very interesting subject  a few years ago I had built the Academy kit 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/academy-12401-p-51-mustang-north-africa--107300

Have fun and take care

Best Regards

Patrice

[Torbjorn]

Have been struggling to get down to it, but here’s a small update.

 

The interior has been painted and installed. Of course it doesn’t fir, and the fuselage sides have to be considerably thinned in order to squeeze the cockpit inside. There are no drawings or otherwise helpful tips on how the pieces should be aligned, so it’s up to the modeller to find out. To be honest I should have used the less detailed injection-moulded version that (maybe, probably?) fits, since the canopy will hide it anyhow.

 

This should be approximately in the roght location:

 

I lost the nice, detailed IP as well as the underside fuselage window (see that little hole behin the office - it’s for one of the cameras) to the carpet troll.  

 

Used the plain IP instead, and will have to come up with a new window. I glued the fuselage together anyway. It fits reasonably well but there are some trenches on the fin and rudder that needs filling:

 

 

 

Not a very good start but hopefully I can give it a nice outside.